Editorial: Decline of Cajun, Creole French a hit to local culture

It's a sad irony that the language that has driven Acadiana's culture and its resultant tourism industry is fading away.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, only 25,300 people out of Lafayette Parish's 176,051 residents ages 5 and older spoke French. That's only 14.4 percent of a parish in the heart of Cajun and Creole country. By 2010, the statistics were even more dismal - only 19,882 of the parish's 205,880 residents spoke French, down to 9.7 percent of the population. There are only about 150,000 who speak French statewide.

You're far less likely now than in the 1950s or '60s to hear casual conversations in Cajun or Creole French in places of business or even at family gatherings.

There are several reasons for the decline. Among them was the institutional policy against speaking French at school because educators once believed children would be "confused" by speaking two languages. Contrast that to findings that show language immersion programs help students function better in all subjects.

Another reason for the decline is that the members of the most fluent generations have died.

And there is another factor, according to Barry Ancelet, a professor of Francophone studies and folklore at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Not everyone who speaks French readily admits to it, probably because of the stigma once associated with it. Speaking French is "something well-raised people did not do in public," Ancelet said in a recent Daily Advertiser article.

French speakers have "learned to be shy," as Ancelet puts it.

That kind of language-shyness is also evident for other reasons. Many who learned French by listening to their parents or grandparents but didn't actively practice the language feel unsure of their fluency and are afraid to try - especially in the presence of those who are fluent. And so, they say they don't speak French.

But they do, Ancelet said.

It may be an uphill battle, but there are groups around Acadiana that are trying to keep the language alive, in some form or another.

There are the tables françaises, or French tables, which began decades ago. French speakers of every level of fluency have been meeting for breakfast or lunch - or neither - to converse in French. These groups are inhabited by Cajun and Creole French speakers and natives of other French-speaking countries and the children of French-speaking homes who picked up only a few words, but want to expand on it.

And there is FrancoJeunes, a group of young people interested in promoting the language through conversation.

So, why is it so important to preserve the language? Why not just let it fade out naturally?

There are many reasons. For some, it's a way of honoring their parents or grandparents and keeping a small part of them alive through the language. For some, it means preserving an integral part of a vital way of life that is uniquely Louisianian.

One way to help preserve a language is simply to speak it. Many Migues of FrancoJeunes said in a recent Daily Advertiser article, sometimes, starting a conversation is as easy as saying, "bonjour" or "merçi."

Learning or re-learning a language is a gradual thing and it builds upon itself.

The next time you hear these words, even if you know only a few words of French, answer in French - however fluently or haltingly.

Don't be shy.

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Editorial: Decline of Cajun, Creole French a hit to local culture

It's a sad irony that the language that has driven Acadiana's culture and its resultant tourism industry is fading away.